Georgianna Robertson: Rise Up! (2003 Cover Story & Gallery)

This feature originally appeared in Complex's February/March 2003 issue.

Georgianna Robertson's outward demeanor may be sweet and kittenish, but don't let her soft purr of a smile fool you. "My appearance seems very fragile, and it is," she says, "but inside I'm very strong." It's this duality that's driven Robertson to a level of success few models are able to reach. At 28 years young, the six-foot Jamaican stunner has strutted down runways for Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Dior, is an actress with options, a part-time MTV VJ, a full-time international L'Oreal spokesperson, the designer of her own swimsuit collection, and an in-demand covergirl. Most recently, Lancome chose Robertson for its worldwide "Purple Rain" ad campaign -- it's a rare event for a non-white model to be selling makeup to women in Sweden, Italy, and the United States at the same time. Maybe, it's a testament to the universality of her sex appeal.

But she's not just a pretty face. When she was a presenter at the Mikhail Gorbachev-chaired World Awards, the vixen took a red pen to the script that was prepared for her and edited her lines. "The guy who wrote it came over to me and asked, 'How did you do that?' People get so shocked that you're a model and can do things. It's embarrassing."

Her education (she went to an English-run school in Jamaica) and strict upbringing made her the self-possessed go-getter she is today. "You hear a lot of negative things about Jamaicans," she explains. "That all they do is smoke ganja and big blunts. For me it was great discipline and a lot of encouragement [that made me who I am today]."